Known brassieres support the breasts of a wearer by effectively damping a breast to the torso of a wearer, and thereby holding the breasts up. With the exception of strapless brassieres, most brassiere designs rely on a chest band to clamp around the wearer's chest and which has cup portions in front of the brassiere to contain the breast. The cups are further held in place by vertical straps which pass over the shoulders of the wearer and are usually attached to the chest band. Any attempt to tension the shoulder straps to transfer load upward across the shoulder results in the chest band riding up the back of the wearer. Such movements of the chest band result in discomfort to the wearer.
Certain brassiere designs have repositioned the vertical straps to eliminate the chest band and thereby eliminate the discomfort attendant with the use of such a band. One such brassiere includes straps which cross the back of the wearer and attach to the base of the other breast, thereby counterbalancing one breast by the other (see U.S. Pat. No. 3,071,140).
As well as the constant static load generated by the breast, the individual breasts undergo forced dynamic motion of the move or is moved. The dynamics of each breast can be represented in Cartesian coordinates (X, Y and Z) such as side to side, up and down and forward or backward. Each breast will undergo forced vibration which can result in oscillatory motion which can all be described by the Cartesian components of displacement. The vertical motion will act upon the center of mass of the breast and generate a cyclical vertical motion which is governed by the mass of the breast, the elasticity of the supporting tissue and the forcing frequency.
During bodily movements, associated movements of the breast or “breast bounce”, as it is commonly known, can cause discomfort and/or embarrassment to the individual. Furthermore, to control breast movement in other axes, a combination of cup design and strapping of breasts to the upper body is generally employed. However, such known brassieres are often found to be uncomfortable by wearers. In addition, these known brassieres are generally unable to provide support without inhibiting movement of a wearer.